This year, March 8th marks the 100th anniversary of the International Women's Day. In my homeland, Iran, women have continued to stand up to tyranny, rejecting discrimination and dictatorship with a resounding NO.
Women were in the forefront of the uprising in the summer of 2009, when the Iranian youth called for unseating the misogynous clerics and establishment of democracy in Iran. It was no coincidence; the symbol of the uprising was a young girl, named Neda, who died with open eyes while in search of freedom, as the whole world was watching.
Those demonstrations have continued despite rape, torture, and public hangings. On February 14, women were again in the forefront of demonstrations against the Iranian regime, which was repeated on 20 February.
Iranian women have every reason to want change as gender apartheid has become the official policy of the theocracy since 1979. Restrictions on every aspect of women's lives are officially enshrined in the regime's laws. The Iranian regime is firmly rooted in the principle of Velayat-e Faqih (absolute clerical rule). The clerical regime's constitution intervenes in and controls both the public and private spheres of women's lives. It is noteworthy that the notion of Velayat-e Faqih is not an Islamic one but an invention of Khomeini to usurp the Iranian people's popular sovereignty.
Iranian women have never submitted to the ruling theocracy. At the forefront of this struggle, women in the main opposition Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK/PMOI) have been leading the movement for decades. As the antithesis to the medieval theocracy in Iran, the pioneering women in the MEK have occupied the highest positions in the liberation movement. More than 1,000 women currently reside in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, as the symbols of this movement.
Women in Ashraf, some of whom have spent years under the most severe physical and psychological forms of torture in the Iranian regime's prisons, have been determined to fight all kinds of discrimination and injustices perpetrated by the fundamentalists ruling their homeland.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance spoke in Paris in honor of this day saying:
This year, we are approaching International Women's Day at a time when women in the Middle East have sacrificed a great deal in their struggle against dictatorship, taking the campaign to attain freedom and equality to its zenith.The blossoming of these movements revives the most vital, yet forgotten, desire of our societies: Women's equality, human rights, freedom and democracy. The experience of Iran under the fundamentalists' rule has shown that women are the main victims of suppression. Thus, women have developed an enormous energy to struggle, making them the force for change.
Accordingly, we are saying that among the many factors which have made the dawn of freedom in Iran inevitable, the determining factor is women's penetrating capacity for change. Recognition of this fact is possible by a simple glance at the history of the struggle of Iranian women against two dictatorships. In the past three decades, the Iranian society has relied on women's unremitting struggle to persevere against religious fascism.
General James Jones, National Security Advisor to President Barak Obama until October 2010 said, "Madam Rajavi, it is time for those of us from the United States who have come to know you and your colleagues, and your goals, to do what is required, to recognize the legitimacy of your movements, and your ideals. I intend to work towards that goal personally. I agree with you, Madam Rajavi; that it is now America's turn."
Likewise, Governor Howard Dean, former chair of Democratic National Committee told a conference in February, "We have to live up to the high moral ground which is in the constitution of the United States and in the declaration of independence, and that means standing up for freedom and democracy, even when it may not be in our geopolitical interest. And that is why we must change our position on the MEK and stop calling them a terrorist organization. They are not a terrorist organization, they have their own bill of rights, which is an extraordinary thing under the leadership of Madame Rajavi, and we appreciate what she has done greatly. Let me quote from Madame's Ten-Point Plan for the future of Iran: 'From our point of view, the ballot box is the only criterion for legitimacy. We want a plural system, freedom for parties and assembly. We will commit and support the abolition of the death penalty. We will establish the separation of church and state.'
Indeed, women will lead the way to bring freedom and democracy to Iran and other Middle Eastern countries since they have been the prime victims of dictatorship, tyranny, and Islamic fundamentalism.
What MEK/PMOI women have done is that they broke this unjust tradition since their infancy during the Shah,s reign. Our prominant women of resistance against Shah and the Mullahs have always been at the front like Ashraf Rajavi and Rezaeis and Maryam Rajavi ,....
PMOI has managed to re-affirm the women's potential and capability by giving them cruicial responsiblities and positions and breaking the Mullah-Inforced barriers separating the genders. PMOI stands for social change and preparing the fertile ground for the growth of democracy and equality in the society making it hard for the Mullahs to grow their seeds of separation and regressive mentalities.
At the end I should say good on you PMOI and Soona who write these informative articles.
Al Sydney
In the mullahs' "world", they are not allowed to open a saving account for their children or even being operated in the hospitals unless "A MAN" signs their surgery's paper!!! How can anyone live under such conditions?! These types of "treatments" are more than one can imagine. That is a perfect indication which can shows, what is awaiting the mullahs on the "D" DAY of DOWNFALL!
A thousand brave women of Camp Ashraf are the testament to the readiness of Iranian women to sacrifice everything for freedom and democracy.
We are in an extraordinary juncture of a new history taking shape in Meddle-East. More extraordinary is the role of women on the threshold of all these democratic uprisings. And the most significantly, the movement for regime change is led by a woman, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi.
"March 8 has been designated to commemorate the time when women joined the economy in general and the workforce in particular. In this respect, as in many respects that concern women's lives, far-reaching changes have indeed been made. Feminism is arguably the most successful revolution in contemporary times. But a close examination of the situation for women in Israel in recent years reveals a number of worrisome steps backward.
Let us set aside for the moment the really serious problems - trafficking in women, child marriages (Balad MK Hanin Zuabi is to submit a bill calling to raise the legal age at which girls can get married, but agreements between families in fact bypass even the existing law ), child prostitution, violence against women and so forth - and focus on the average woman here. A woman from the middle class, who has been told by the government that her life has improved immeasurably in recent years thanks to the impressive growth of the economy. "
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-is-no-country-for-women-1.347809
Prompted by the FOFI document, Human Rights Watch re-interviewed all 12 of the original witnesses, conducting private and personal interviews lasting several hours with each of them in Germany and the Netherlands, where the witnesses now live. All of the witnesses restated their claims about the PMOI camps from the 1991-2003 period, saying PMOI officials subjected them to various forms of physical and psychological abuses once they made known their wishes to leave the organization."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Mujahedin_of_Iran#Alleged_human_rights_abuses
As a poster in on of the Tehran Highways last week was saying: " You Dictator Ali, Say hello to your demise"
Women are the force of change in Iran because of the misogynous nature of the clerical regime. Indeed, it is no surprise, as Ms. Samsami correctly argues, that women are leading the struggle in the streets of Iranian cities and within the ranks of the best organized opposition movement, the MEK.
It goes without saying that Iranian women draw their inspiration from the women of Ashraf who have endured tremendous adversity in the past couple of days, ever since Iraqi forces took control of Camp Ashraf.
Their mere perseverance is indicative of their qualifications and fitting status within the MEK. They are now the leaders of that movement and deservedly so.
Women in Iran are leading the struggle for freedom and they get their inspiration from1000 brave women in Ashraf (house of MEK members)which dedicated their lives for freedom and democracy in Iran.
I salute Mrs.Maryam Rajavi as the president elect of the National Council of resistance of Iran for leading the main democratic Iranian opposition for years which is the best hope for a secular, democratic and free Iran.
MEK has the support of more than 3500 parlimentarians around the world which representing more than one billion people.
In United States many high ranking officials from Clinton,Bush and Obama's administration have been spoken publicly asking the State Department to delist MEK from United States FTO list including many members of US congress.
Time is not on our side, US State Department should act quickly to correct the mistake and let the Iranian opposition to get rid of the terrorist regime in Iran.
For the US to advance our values, and regain our credibility in the Middle East we must realize our long term interest, standing with aspiration of oppressed women and young educated generation in the Middle East for a free and democratic society in peace. In this communication age appeasing extremists dictators and mullahs against their people is truly a crime, as Howard Dean rightfully stated "We have to live up to the high moral ground which is in the constitution of the United States and in the declaration of independence, and that means standing up for freedom and democracy, even when it may not be in our geopolitical interest. And that is why we must change our position ..."
There is no doubt, with repressive governments gone in the Middle East, the era of explosive growth and cooperation will begin. We can already see the tip of this change with the leadership of a woman called, Maryam Rajavi.
Best Regards,
Masood
while hailing women who have participated in the uprisings of Iranian people and who have had leading roles in many of them stated: 'The one hundredth anniversary of Women’s Day shall be recorded in the history of women’s resistance with the chants of 'Death to Khamenei' and 'Death to the principle of Velayat-e faqih (absolute rule of clergy)' of Iranian women.
Best Regards
Carlos Azad